Page:Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state (Vol. I).djvu/68

64 Arriving in Boston at last, the long trek to Albany had to be made by stage and by hired wagon; and arriving in Albany, John Sheridan with the, help of Jimmy Minaugh, now used to American ways, managed to construct a rude log cabin for his little family. And there in March, 1831, was born Philip Sheridan, later to become one of the heroes of the Civil War.

In 1833 the Sheridan family moved to Somerset in Perry County. John Sheridan was employed on the new national pike known as the Maysville Pike, and important because it was to join the western country to the east. The pike ran from Zanesville, Ohio through which the Cumberland road passed, to Maysville, Kentucky, crossing the Ohio River by ferry and was for years one of the main arteries of travel.

Though life in the village of Somerset would have been comparatively easy for Mary Sheridan, she insisted on moving to the country where she could cook for her husband and the other workmen and where she could teach her growing sons to work in the garden which she planned to have. So, for several years, while the work on the pike continued, the Sheridans lived in a cabin on the farm owned by General Richey.

When she left Ireland, Mary Sheridan could neither read nor write. But by the time she had moved her family to the cabin home, and the older of the two sons was ready for school, she made up her mind to accomplish both. With the help of the teacher—who boarded round—she learned to read and subsequently she acquainted herself with some of the world’s best literature. Ambitious for her children to a great degree, she kept them at their lessons despite their easy going father.

After several years on the turnpike, John Sheridan got a contract of his own; he then persuaded his wife to move the family to Somerset, where the boys entered the village school.

Sheridan’s contract did well enough and the family fortunes would have done well, too, had not some unwise investments been made. Plunged into poverty again, Mary Sheridan was obliged to take her boys out of school; Patrick the older was employed by a wagoner who made trips from Zanesville to Boston; and Philip was employed by the village store-keeper where he was paid the sum of two dollars a month.

With his mother prodding him, Philip took to study when he was not busy at the store. He engaged himself in reading the history of his country, the political maneuvers of the statesmen of the day, and the military achievements of Napoleon.

It was a happy time for Mary when, as often occurred, her son was called upon to settle arguments about affairs both past and present as they were discussed in the village store.

Mary’s ambition for her son was a priesthood, and to this end she exhorted the boy constantly. But Philip had heard of West Point; he had seen the youthful Sherman when he returned as a graduate from that